12 Grimmauld Place
by thecatisdead-getoverit
Summary: Harry returns to 12 Grimmauld Place a few months after the war - and realises what he wants and who he wants it with. One Shot. 2nd H/G one-shot so be nice. It is in the same ilk as 'Scars'


**A/N**

**A one shot – I find myself writing them when I hit a point in my stories and just don't know how to go on, this is the first of two.  
**

**It's also my 2****nd**** H/G fanfic – I suppose it's kind of a continuation of that one, like a series but not really – ignore me, I'm talking rubbish  
**

**A thank you to my Beta Shroomy – who doesn't normally read post-DH but edited it anyway**

**Right so without further ado:**

12 Grimmauld Place

It had been months.

He had only just stopped going for his wand when he woke up. The nightmares had stopped (but that may have something to do with Ginny sneaking into his room when Ron was asleep). He had been staying in the cot in Ron's room since they had left Hogwarts. Granted, Ron hadn't been there for 2 months so he had the room for himself while Ron had been in Australia with Hermione.

The thought hadn't even entered his mind when he got Kinsley's owl telling him that they had checked out the house and that it was safe. Coming back here hadn't been a priority. There had been helping to clear up Hogwarts, then all the funerals. Every spare moment had been spent at the Burrow or with Teddy.

But here he was, standing in the dingy hallway staring up at the chandelier. It looked a little different to what it had done the last time he was here. The wallpaper was still peeling off, the carpets still threadbare.

'So what you gonna do with it then?' Ron asked coming up behind him

'Ron, shut up.' Hermione chastised him, coming up to stand next to them both

'I don't know, it's my house.' Harry told them slowly and in shock

'Well duh.' Ron informed him. Harry didn't reply or look at them but heard Hermione hit him over the head.

He knew it was his house, it had been his for years but somehow this was the first time it had actually felt even slightly that it was actually his. That it wasn't just a house that Sirius had left him, but actually his. Something he actually owned.  
He had wandered into the kitchen; it was dirtier than he had remembered. He ran his hand over the table and ambled up to the large fireplace collecting its dust on his fingers.

'I'd knock that wall down.' Harry turned with a smile on his face. He would never tire of looking at her; he could look at her for days and not get bored. He had told her that once; she had told him that if he wanted some, he only had to ask.

'Why would I do that?'

Ginny walked up to the wall and tapped it, 'It isn't a retaining wall, there's a dud space behind it.'

'How'd you work that out?' he asked approaching her

'The rooms above. You've got a few good feet behind it. Means you could have more work surfaces and one of those cold cupboard things.'

'Fridges?'

'Yeah. Then make those windows bigger and put a door down the other end, so you could access the garden from down here.' Ginny stopped as his arms went around her and she was pulled into him. 'Oh hello.'

'Hello Miss Weasley, how are we this fine morning?'

'I'm okay, it was just last night my boyfriend distinctly promised that he would join me in my bedroom but never materialised.' She pouted up at him

Harry couldn't help but snicker slightly and leant down to kiss her nose, 'I'm sorry love. Bill and Charlie started talking to me about auror training and then they started talking about you. I could hardly tell them that while it was a riveting conversation I must leave because I have to go shag their little sister.'

Ginny laughed up at him, 'Yeah, but still, Mr Potter, first I don't get any last night, I get a kiss on the cheek before you left and now I get a nose kiss. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought that you weren't attracted to me.'

'Not attracted to you?' He smirked, slowly backing her up so she was against the wall, 'I'll just have to reassure you then Miss Weasley'

'Oh I think it's the only cause of action Mr Potter.' She replied as he lowered his lips to her.

Kissing Harry would never get old, especially when he lifted her off the floor so her legs were wrapped around him and his hands were running up her back.

'Oi!'

They separated quickly and Ginny slid down Harry, placing her feet firmly on the ground and straightening her t-shirt

'Ron!' Herminie hit him over the head again

'Bloody hell 'Mione you're like obsessed with hitting me.' Ron exclaimed

'Hermione the Dominatrix' Ginny joked. Causing Harry to burst out laughing and Hermione to shot them both daggers

'What's a Domin...?' Ron asks them confused

'Don't worry.' Hermione tells him

'Yeah Ron it would shock your sensitive ears. Tea?' Ginny said. They all nod at the question but Ron still stands there confused

'Harry mate?'

'I'll tell you later.' He tells him.

'Where are we having the tea?' Hermione asks looking at Harry

'How about the Drawing room?'

'Go on, I'll bring it up.' Ginny tells them as they leave the kitchen

'I can't believe you have a house with a drawing room' Gin tells him as she enters the room holding a tray.

'Yeah, we should probably re-name it.' Harry said taking a mug of tea

'You're keeping it then.' Ron said

He didn't say anything for a while, 'I suppose I am. It doesn't seem right to sell it somehow.'

'But what are you going to do with it?' Hermione asked

'Do it up.' he offered as an answer shrugging, 'chuck some stuff out'

'Including that troll's foot.' Ron joked

'Actually I was thinking about keeping it.'

'What!'

'Yeah, I figured give it to Teddy someday.'

Ginny snuggled into his side, smiling

'Oh yeah that makes sense. Some people get broomsticks, sex tips and tips of how to break school rules from their Godfathers, Teddy will get a trolls foot' Ron says

'Yeah.' Harry replied not really listening to him, stocking Ginny's hair as he stared off into space.

After a moment or two, in some far distant part of his brain Harry heard Hermione and Ron saying that they were leaving and that they would see them back at the burrow later.

He stayed in the same position for a while, stroking Ginny hair, staring into space. It was odd. The feeling that here was a place that before he had no connection with, a place that Sirius had hated, a place that was dark and dirty and didn't have a homely ..._anything_.. about it. But suddenly it felt right, somehow, somehow it felt like that this could be a _home_. Not just that, but _his_ home.

He continued to stare into nothing contemplating that bizarre feeling when he realised that Ginny was asleep. Her head was lying on his chest with her arm wrapped over his stomach. She was breathing lightly and Harry pushed her hair gently off her face.

They had fallen back quickly into their relationship; it didn't take any effort at all. But it seemed to have sped up. Early on when Gin had just forgiven him without a second thought, He had clung to her tightly. Partly because he finally saw his future and he finally had a chance at it. But partly because he feared that if he let her go, she would realise what she was actually doing and leave. But she hadn't. She hadn't left, she hadn't gone anywhere. She had been there to hold him when he cried and there to tell him to stop being so miserable for himself.

She hadn't talked to him for days the first time they had got down to their underwear and Harry had felt guilty and apologised. She had shouted at him for hours afterwards to the extent that the only thing he could do to shut her up was to kiss her. She had told him to be a teenager, convinced him that having sex when the Burrow was empty was half the fun.

She had been there.

To Harry saying goodbye when she got the train to go to her last year at Hogwarts was worse than it had been the year before. The year before he had managed to convince himself that leaving her was for her safety (even if as it turned out it wasn't) But he didn't have that. He told himself that she was okay, her friends were there, their friends, she was fine. But that didn't mean he didn't miss her.

Sure they saw each other at the holidays and Hogsmeade weekends if he could get a day off from training and then there were the times that she would sneak into Hogsmeade and met him in the Three Broomsticks.

And they wrote. God they wrote, about everything. His favourite ones though were her sex-letters or sexetters as he had christened them. He had been working late in the office, finishing of some paper work with Kingsley when he got the first one; to say that he had been shocked was an understatement. But after 6 letters back and forth. Kingsley had told him to go and see her, he had flooed into the heads dorm, not really caring if he got caught or not and ran into Ginny's room. They didn't emerge till 11 o'clock the next morning, Harry having missed an exercise and Ginny having missed Defence.

But staring down at her, Harry knew that it was right. What they were doing, who they were now, was right. The war had matured her and he was also free to be young for the first time. So they balanced out. It was right, it felt real.

He slowly extracted himself from her, propping up her head with a pillow and magicing up a blanket to cover her up with. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead and watched her snuggle down into the sofa.

Walking out of the room, Harry took the time to actually study the house, _his_ house.

He wandered up the stairs, opening all the doors as he went past.

On the third floor he wandered into the master bedroom. The floorboards didn't look safe and the wallpaper was all but gone. Harry looked out of the window on to London beneath him. It looked so normal. Normal people doing what they normally did.

There were two doors off the room, Opening them both he discovered 2 large wardrobes.

'This could be an en suite' he thought closing the door of the largest wardrobe, 'Ginny would like that'

The first time he had ever thought something like that, it had shocked him. But it didn't anymore. He knew it was strange after all they were only 18 - 19. They had years before things like that. Maybe it was because he could finally think like that or maybe it was because Ginny was it for him. But it was one of those unspoken things between them, they would get married one day, they would have children (3, He already had a mental list of names) they would live in a house. 'This house.' Harry suddenly thought. They would see Teddy all the time, he would be an auror and she would play Quidditch (if she ever gathered the courage to tell her parents that) they would be Mr and Mrs Potter. They just hadn't admitted it to each other yet. But that was fine, they were being boyfriend and girlfriend and instead of pretending that they had all the time in the world, they did.

He found his feet taking him into Sirius' old room. It was messier than he seemed to remember and more old and tired. He sat down on the bed and looked around him. Sure he had been here before but this felt different.

'This is defiantly a Sirius room.' Ginny's voice at the doorway brought him out his reprieve.

'Yeah.' He agreed moving slightly along the bed so she could sit down

'What are you going to do with it?' she asked gently

'Sort though things, there are probably things I'm going to keep. I'll get rid of all this, though.' he told her pointing to the walls, 'I'm not really into 1970's pin ups.'

'Then what?' She asked gently again

Harry looked at her, he knew what he wanted it's usage to be, but somehow he knew it wasn't the right time to say it. So he shrugged instead and pulled her lightly out of the room.

'Are you going to live here now?' She asked as they wandered onto the floor below them, peaking into the rooms as they went

'I don't think so.' Harry said, as they reached the ground floor and stood next to the trolls foot

'Why not?' Ginny asked looking up at him questioningly

'Because it's a family house.' He explained leaning against the vanity behind them, 'because there's so much work to be done, not just cleaning and decoration and new fittings but structural. The master room is almost collapsing, the kitchen needs to be done, there's plumbing and re-jigging of the layout. That is going to take a while. But even then I don't think I'll move in straight away. Ron and me were thinking of getting a flat together, we've already looked at a few places. I..'

Ginny interrupted him, 'You want a bachelor pad with your best mate.'

'Yeah,' He smiled at her, 'But I want to move in here someday.' he told her, pulling her into him, 'With you.'

'With me?'

'Yeah, well if me and Ron are getting a place and you are...' He trailed off

'Hermione wants to get her own place after Hogwarts and I can't imagine staying at home after school, so we were thinking of getting a place in London.' Ginny told him

'Great.' Harry just looked down at her smiling

'But we are seriously moving in here one day?' Ginny asked still slightly shocked at the direction the conversation was leading them

'Of course, I want this to be our house, Gin. The one we have kids in and Christmases. The one where I can stand at the door and tell my daughter that she can't go out dressed like that. The one where I can teach them how to play Quidditch in the garden.' It had been the first time they had ever acknowledge their future to each other, and though it scared Harry to the bone, it somehow felt right telling her that they would always going to be together, that he was never going to let her go.

'Mr Potter are you asking me to move in with you in the future?' She asked him smirking

'I suppose I am Miss Weasley, Is that a yes then?'

'Yep.' she replied kissing him

After a few minutes they pulled apart and Ginny turned to put on her coat that was hanging over the banister, 'We should get going.'

Harry nodded in agreement, holding the door open for her. In the time that they had been inside, dusk was upon the city and cabs were driving up the road, taking people home and out for the night. 'Gin have you even had Chinese?'

She looked at him confused, 'Sometimes you scare me.'

Harry laughed and took her hand as they walked down the street, 'Come on I'm taking you to Chinatown.'

'Chinatown?'

'I'm going to introduce you to the wonder that is Chinese.' He told her, flinging his arm around her shoulder. As she tucked her head into him and smiled.

As they walked down the street and turned the corner heading towards the tube station. They left the house behind. Sure it was a mess and it needed work and it wasn't home.

So she would finish school and get an apartment with Hermione. Harry and Ron would get a flat. And they would spend all their time in one of the flats. And they would pretend that they weren't having sex when they saw her parents. He would be an Auror and she would be playing Quidditch. They would be kids, because they were young; they were too young to be planning their lives together, too young to be picking out schemes and kitchens. Because it could still all go wrong.

But then, maybe it could all go right. They had something to aim for. They had a home waiting for them. When they were ready

_Fin_

**A/N**

**Yes I really do love Chinese food - I basically live on it :D  
**

**Well your opinions please – lots and lots of reviews if you would be very nice**

**Ken**

**XD  
**


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